Fall From Grace
by Ryo0oki
Summary: Common sense hits Mai and she wins her duel with Malik. But the consequences are far from pleasant. One-shot, Mai-centric.


Title: Fall From Grace Author: Ryo0oki Rating: PG13 Pairing(s): none, small hints of Mai/Joey & infinitesimal hints of Seto/Yugi 

A/N: Personally, I feel that Mai is the second best duelist of the B/C finalists because she's the only one except for Seto who doesn't pull victories out of her ass and can deal with almost any card her opponent plays.  Plus, she has Mirror Wall and a slew of T/M cards that uncannily come to her aid when she needs them.  If she used some common sense, she'd win all her duels.  

But what does common sense have to do with the Yu Gi Oh world?  Tempting fate does not have good results. 

Summary: Common sense hits Mai and she wins her duel with Malik.  But the consequences are far from pleasant.  One-shot, Mai-centric.

----------------------------*

This is it.  My moment.  

The stage is set perfectly.  Malik stands in front of me, bristling.  My Harpie Lady faces down his pathetic manacles.  But most importantly, I have his Egyptian God card in my hand.  The Winged Dragon of Ra stares at me, its golden body twisted defiantly.  It doesn't seem to like me yet.  That's okay.  Soon I will use to wipe out the rest of Malik's life points and regain my memories.

All I need is one card- if I draw my Elegant Egotist, I can pull two more Harpies from my deck and sacrifice them to summon Malik's own God card.  _No,_ I remind myself.  Mine now.  Soon to be mine forever.  

How ironic, the card he wanted to kill me with will be slaughtering him.

I draw.  Graceful Charity.  Mm.

I look at Malik.  He seems irritated and sour.  But why shouldn't he be?  I am the one who is ahead- I have the God card.

"I play Graceful Charity!" I declare, slapping the card onto my duel disk.  "This card allows me to draw three more cards and then discard two."

Malik snorts.  Like he doesn't care.  He's going to be so sorry.  I'm going to humiliate him for taking away my memories.

Because there in my hand is the Elegant Egotist card I was looking for.

I move to discard the Amazon Fighter and Cyber Shield.  This is it- the end.  I look at Malik.  Does he even realize?  In two seconds, he'll be staring down his own monster.

Malik still looks annoyingly smug.  

"Foolish mortal," he hisses.  "Are you going to play the Egyptian God card or not?"

My eyes widen.  He knows… he knows I can.  And he's not scared.  Why?  Why on earth… He has but a thousand life points remaining.  His only card on the field is Holding Arms.  What- what could he be planning?!

How could he stand up to the God card?  What was Malik _possibly_ planning?

I think.  The seconds tick by.  I do not know how the card works.  I do not know what it involves.  All I know is that it is powerful.

I close my eyes.

A cool darkness embraces me, and I see the scene before me.  Here is Malik, here is me, here is-

I make my choice.

"I discard Elegant Egotist and Cyber Shield!" I yell, sliding the two cards into my graveyard.  Malik's eyes widen and he looks completely shocked for once.  Obviously, he was not expecting that.  Almost instantaneously, his body language changes- he is no longer calm, but tense.  He almost looks… nervous.

I am fueled by his response.

"I play Amazon Fighter," I say, a smile beginning to form on my lips.  "In attack mode!  Destroy his Holding Arms!"

My Amazon Fighter rushes forward.  Her fists smash the manacles to pieces.  The form of a half-masked man appears, and then shatters, but that is the least of my concern.

Malik recoils.  His mouth is moving; he is muttering something and I have a strong feeling that he is repeating 'It can't be.'  I feel a triumphant glow.  Malik has no cards on the field now.  He has no special tricks to surprise me with.

This is _truly_ the end.

"Harpie Lady!" I command.  She screeches in acknowledgment.  "Attack Malik's life points directly!"

Her eyes flash.  She tosses her hair and slashes Malik twice.  Malik staggers, the glowing symbol on his forehead beginning to fade.  He is breathing hard, and his hands twitch violently.  His life counter slowly spins down to zero, and beeps.

I have won.

I suddenly feel overwhelmed.  I have won.  I won.  Despite my boasting and cockiness, I did not expect to win.  There is something- something about Kaiba, Malik, and Yugi –some ethereal power that makes dueling them feel hopeless.

But here- here is my victory, and now the shadows are receding and the holograms are disappearing and oh gods, I can see Tea's face again.  She's cheering, they're all cheering for me, and with a monumental flash, I can see Joey and he's applauding me too.  I almost see tears- but no.  Why would I see tears in his eyes?  He doesn't consider me a friend.

The God card sits in my hand.  I stare at it and it glares back.  Next to it is Gravity Bind.  What a contrast.  A weak, common card next to one of the three rarest in the world.  

Dimly, I hear the ref declare me as the victor of the duel.

Malik is staring directly at me.  His eyes are blank.  Just as I did not expect to win- he did not expect to lose.  And now all three of the God cards are out of his hands.

Something snaps inside of me and I want to cry.  The card does not belong to me.  It feels like I have lost, even though the others are now on the dueling field, congratulating and hugging me.  I bite my lower lip and painfully reach up to grasp whoever has their arms around me.  The Egyptian God card burns in my hands.  

I want to run over to the side of the blimp and drop it.  I wonder if Kaiba would dive after it- the man is obsessed.

Speaking of Kaiba… rich boy is yelling something about clearing the field.  That's right… he's dueling now.  

I let myself be guided down the steps.  

Everything feels so wrong.

-----------*

I sit at the corner of my bed, gazing at the God card.  It is just a piece of cardboard.  So unassuming.  But I haven't been able to let it go since my duel.

It's mine now.

Mine.

I wonder what happened to Malik.  It really seemed so surreal- to see his confidence completely shattered.  Well, shattered isn't the word for it.  He was dazed, that's for sure.  Surprised.  

I'm the one who's shattered.

I don't get it.  The Winged Dragon has no answers for me.  It is silent, mocking.  I suddenly feel an overwhelming urge to rip the card in half, to shred it until it is nothing but tiny colored scraps.

My fingers twitch.  

What do I need it for, anyway?  I have an excellent deck.  I was able to defeat _Malik_ without using his card, so why on earth would I even want it?  Something seems off about that logic, but I can't really place it.

_Tear it_.

_Do it._

_Now._

BANG.

It's so loud it seems like a gunshot- the noise shakes me out of my stupor.  I glance at the source.  It was only someone knocking on my door… nothing to be afraid of.

"Mai?  Are you in there?"

Tea.  What's she doing here?

"Aa," I reply shakily.  I try to put the God card away- stick it my deck or pocket or something.  It won't leave my fingers.  "Come in."

She opens the door, peering curiously at me.  "Are you okay?"  The girl walks into my room, looking around and familiarizing herself with it.  I don't know why- all the rooms were essentially the same.

I put the card onto the bed, placing my left hand over it.

"Yes, I'm fine," I reply, plastering a smile on my face.  "I beat Malik- why wouldn't I be?"

She looks at me oddly.  "It's just that- you've been in here forever."

How long?  I look at the clock.  It's nine.  In the morning.  I've literally been sitting here for hours.

Tea moves to my left side and sits down.  I blink, trying to think of something to say.

"How did Kaiba's duel go?" I settle on, unable to breach the subject of Malik yet.

"Ah," Tea smiles.  "Well, that was the funniest thing.  The eighth duelist just conceded.  Kaiba's livid- he really wanted to show off his Egyptian God card."

Egyptian God card… 

My fingers clench.  Tea notices.

"Oh!  Is that it?  The Winged Dragon?"  She point to the card underneath my hand, looking genuinely surprised.  "Why isn't it in your deck?"

"I was looking at it."

Tea nods enthusiastically.  "I bet it looks amazing, doesn't it?"

_Rip it._

I nod.  "Aa, it's the most interesting card I've ever had."  Which was true.  Not like I've ever spent hours staring at Harpie Lady.

For a second I see something flash in Tea's eyes- lust?hatred?greed? –but a split second later, it's gone.  I must be imagining things.

"Well," Tea says, "If you're really okay, I'll leave you to your devices."  She pats my shoulder gently and I smile stupidly back.  

"Yes, I'll be fine," I say, relaxing a bit.

She looks ?disappointed? but she does turn around and leave.  The door slides closed and I am alone with my thoughts again.

I force myself to remove my hand from its place over the card.  The Winged Dragon of Ra lies there, its head tossed in rebellious nature.  Framed with white sheets, it looks like it has been placed on display.

My hands drift towards it.  The second I'm aware of what I'm doing I jerk them back.  If I touch it again, who knows if I'll be able to even let go?

I stand up and run a hand through my hair.  I haven't slept in well over twenty-four hours.  I feel exhausted; or rather, I should feel exhausted.  Instead, I feel as though adrenaline is subtly pumping through my body, allowing me to remain awake, but also destroying any sort of concentration I should have.

DESTROY IT NOW! 

I'm holding the card before I know it, my hands trembling so hard I'm afraid they'll fall off.  The God card's shiny surface gleams in the artificial light, the glare blocking the top of the card from view.  The Winged Dragon looks headless. 

_tearteartearripriprip_

Wildly, I search the room for anything that will rid me of this curse.  The voice is pounding in my head, a steady rhythm that tells me to shred the card, and I can't resist, it's so alluring and it makes so much sense despite saying next to nothing.  

I smash my fist into the wall as hard as I can.  BAD IDEA.  The harsh pain makes me recoil, clutching my bleeding knuckles with the hand holding the God card.  I'm getting blood all over it, but the lancing pain brings sudden clarity to my mind.  I quickly spot a box holding a few pairs of my earrings.  I snap it open, carelessly dumping the contents onto the ground, and almost throw the Winged Dragon of Ra inside.  

Snap it closed.

The voice is gone.

Unfortunately, the pain in my hand now comes to the forefront.  It feels like I've broken bones.  My endorphins don't seem to work well enough, and blackness consumes me.

-------------*

I wake up.  On the floor.  Alone.

I want to cry.  I want to cry because I shouldn't want to cry, because I should be happy, but I'm not.  

Logic.

I beat Malik.  I regained my memories.  I have his God card.  All reasons I should be thrilled.

But no, here I lie, dull, throbbing pain in my hand, pitying myself.

Get a grip on yourself, Mai.  You're acting pathetic.

I take a deep breath and stagger to my feet, carefully keeping my right hand at my side.  I scan the room, disoriented, before I finally locate the bathroom.  I stumble into it; the lights turn on automatically.  Silly Kaiba.

I thrust my hand under the sink and twist the faucet.  A jet of cold water hits the back of my hand and I grit my teeth.  Obviously, I broke something, or, at the very least, something twisted when it shouldn't have.

The blood takes a while to wash off.  It flakes off as the water hits it, but some pieces cling resistantly to my skin, and I am hesitant to try and scrub them off.  Finally, I decide that enough of the blood is gone and turn off the sink.  There are minor abrasions on my knuckles.  It doesn't look too bad, but when I try to move my fingers, I can't.

How stupid, I think, feeling the tendrils of despair start to creep at the corner of my mind.  Sighing, I gently dry my hand and awkwardly wrap it up with some bandages.  Hehe.  Kaiba has his rooms stocked with everything.  Must be trying to emphasize how rich he is.

I should go out.  See what's up with the others.

I look at the clock.  It's six in the evening now, which would mean I've been asleep for a bit under nine hours.  Almost a full day has passed since my duel with Malik.  I feel like it has been years.

I smooth my hair, slip on some shoes, and press the button to slide open the door.  It does, and I am face to face with Joey Wheeler.

Crimson appears on the blonde's face- his response to our proximity.  He stumbles back a few steps.  Normally, I would find this funny, but now I just feel sour.  Stupid Joey.  What are you doing here?

Almost as if he had read my mind, he says, "Uh, hey, I came to see if you were okay.  Tea said that you were fine and you just wanted to be alone, but it's almost been a day, and I've just been kind of worried, you know?  I mean, that's not the say that the others weren't worried, they were!  And I wasn't worried about you any more than they were… um…"

He is babbling and acting like a complete imbecile.  I'm _well aware_ that he doesn't consider me a friend.  There's no point in pretending to, especially since the others don't seem to bother.

"Shut up, Joey," I say harshly.

He shuts up.  His eyes widen, confused.  He looks like a stupid mutt.  Now I know why Kaiba hates him so much.

What I _don't_ know is what I wanted to go out of my room for.  What did I expect?  A congratulations party?  The majority of duelists are not my kind- they're hypocrites, preaching values that they don't follow through with or morons who play the game like trained monkeys.

"Go away," I say pleasantly, flashing Joey a bright smile before closing the door in his face.

There is an audible 'click' as it locks.  More audible banging.  Stupid stupid Joey.  What are you trying to prove, anyway?  

A few more seconds, and he stops. I hear his scuffling footsteps down the hallway, and then silence.

There is a window in my room.  It's not meant to be opened, but I don't care.  I hurl the roll of bandages through it and stick my head through the hole.  Glass shards cut into my cheeks and the freezing wind blowing past me makes the wounds sting.  I look down and see ocean.  The pieces of glass glitter as they fall, but soon we are past them.

I move back into the room, shaking the glass shavings from my hair.  They make crunching noises as I step on them.  It sounds pretty.

Pretty like the Winged Dragon of Ra that's staring at me.

I freeze.

I am holding the card.  Somehow, I had retrieved it from its box.  Said box lies precariously on the windowsill, teetering dangerously until it tips over and falls to the floor.

The rushing sound comes back.  

Screaming voices screaming at me screaming _WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE DOING?_ laughing shrieking ghosts clawing at my mind and I collapse to the floor, clutching my head.  It's the God card.  It's so painful, what am I doing with it…

_Throw it over the side._

Yes!  It'll be gone- I don't need it, I never have, and now I don't either, gone gone gone…

I crawl towards the window.  The voices grow louder, one voice in particular permeating me and penetrating my mind.  Oh GOD, Malik.  You're still here.  You're still speaking to me in that cruel, cruel voice… telling me that I'm lost…

_…and it's all the God card's fault.  Destroy it._

So close.  The window is right next to my head, all I have to do is flip my body over and toss it.  I never should have acquired it in the first place.

There is a beep and my door starts to slide open.

What?  I could have sworn I locked it.  Some part of me is quite indignant- what if I had been naked in here?  The other parts tell me to move, fling the card away before _they_ can stop me.

I listen to them.  Majority rules, after all.  

I see Seto's tell-tale white trench coat and Yugi's blue leather right behind the man, and oh look, there's Joey looking concerned and I want to run toward him and be held and protected and comforted, but he's not mine.

"Mai, stop it!" he yells.

Choking out a laugh, I carelessly chuck the Winged Dragon of Ra, the fucking Egyptian God card that everyone and their mother wants, out the window.

Kaiba's eyes widen, but unlike my previous prediction, it is Yugi who ducks under Kaiba's arm and half hurls himself out the window.  It's far too late, of course.  We are long past it, and I feel a large sense of relief.

It feels like a weight has been lifted.  Feels like I've just come out of the Shadow Realm, and Yugi's anguished cry is so clear now, and before I know it, Kaiba's hauling Yugi back from the gap and there's Malik, the other Malik, laughing in my head and outside.  He's laughing, that damned eye glowing on his forehead, and this Malik has no motives, this Malik just knows that if Ra is not his, it won't be anyone else's.

Little Yugi is sobbing into Kaiba's shirt and the billionaire looks like he has no idea what to do.  I wonder why Yugi is so upset- just apiece of cardboard.  Joey is still standing in the doorway, looking for all intents and purposes, frozen in place.

I should feel used, sad.  But instead I feel free and before I know it, I'm laughing with Malik.

~fin

Dubbed names were used for convenience.  

Pls review.=^.^=  Also, I'm curious to know if you want to see more from this new universe.  I have a few plotbunnies hopping around. -_-;;

Review!

-ryo0oki


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